A Collaborative Effort
Title: Stream Order and Drainage Patterns
Class: Environmental Botany
Grade: 11-12
Timeframe: 1-2 days
Knowledge Gap Topic
Stream order…students don’t realize that smaller tributaries move into
larger ones
Subject Matter/
Key Vocabulary
Stream Flow, elevation, stream profiles, stream gradients, drainage
patterns
Essential Question/
Over-Arching Concept/
Key Understanding
Curriculum Connections
 OGT standards
 Local standards
Instructional Objectives
Essential Question 1: How do topography/elevation/gravity determine the
flow/direction of stream?
Materials
Additional Documents
Introduction
 focus event
 varies with teacher
Development
 major parts of unit/
lesson
Rigor/Relevance Quadrant(s)
 link to rigor/relevance
document
Earth Science Standards 9-10: E
Explain the processes that move and shape Earth's surface.
O1) Students will recognize tributary patterns and realize flow is
downstream towards larger trunks until it reaches its mouth.
O2) Students identify stream order in that smaller tributaries flow into
larger ones as water moves downhill
O3) Students must see that steep profiles cause straight channels, while
gentle slopes cause meandering streams.
Stream table with sand and water source that can simulate rain over wide
area and some wood blocks and/or landform pieces that can simulate
harder rock under surface of sand
Computer(s) with Google Earth and knowledge of tools to find elevation
and waypoints
Introduce how land characteristics influence the flow of water and how
streams organize into a definite order (size) from the headwaters to the
mouth.
1) Set up stream table for students and demo dendritic and block drainage
pattern development
2) Teacher call up Rocky Fork drainage and demonstrate numbering
tributaries by stream order
3) Students will go to Google Earth and give 6-8 sites around the US with
dendritic vs. other drainage patterns based on underlying bedrock
4) Students number tributaries according to stream order
5) Students make short power point of various drainage patterns to
demonstrate their understanding
6) Students are given a wilderness “lost” situation and asked to use
compass heading/directions to find way out of wilderness.
A: Must use terms correctly … source, headwaters, mouth, watershed,
sedimentation, meander, tributary
B: none
C: none
D: Students relate topography of various places in the US to underlying
bedrock; students realize when lost to follow streams downstream till
eventually tributaries get larger and larger till reaching civilization.
Designing Watershed-based Education and Extension Efforts through a Mental Models Research Approach
USDA-CSREES National Integrated Water Quality Program
Product/Artifacts/Student
Evidence of Understanding
Accommodations
 plan B
 differentiated instruction
Formative
Assessment/Feedback
 measure of progress
Final Evaluation
 project rubric
 oral or paper quiz/test
 portfolio
Teacher Reflection
 complete after lesson
Students produce power point with various drainage patterns
Students provide directions for leaving a wilderness
area when lost, based on stream direction/flow
If one only has one stream table but has a web cam/projector, this can be
projected onto a screen while running so whole class can see easier.
Also, it could be used as a demo for a small group of students while others
work on other parts of an assignment or lab.
Ask leading questions during stream table demo.
Have students number some sample tributaries correctly according to
stream order
Have students discuss two or three patterns discovered on Google with
instructor before they produce power point
Students produce a power point that correctly shows several different
drainage patterns with streams numbered according to correct order.
Student write up a set of directions which show instructor that they would
follow stream flow to larger and larger tributaries until they reach
civilization
I only did the demonstration part of this lab this year. However, students
showed through answers to probative questions that a young steep stream
tends to be straight, while an older stream with little slope tend to
meander.
Just ran out of time to do the Google Earth part, but plan on that for next
year.
Designers/Email: Fred Donelson (fdonelson@gjps.org)
Additional Comments: A beginning activity to help students understand basic concepts of headwaters versus
the mouth of the stream, and how smaller tributaries feed into larger streams.
Designing Watershed-based Education and Extension Efforts through a Mental Models Research Approach
USDA-CSREES National Integrated Water Quality Program